Those among you with a penchant for B-Movies will find enough to enjoy in this game's blood drenched drenched innards.
As I summarize the basis of the story try to find all of the HPL references!
Rick Taylor accompanies his girlfriend, Jennifer Willis, to the home of her professor from Miskatonic University in Arkham, Dr. Henry West. It turns out it was all a set up. West plans to sacrifice Jennifer to his old gods to restore his departed wife, Lenore, to him. Rick was just an inconvenience to be dealt with. West turns a pack of unnameable horrors from beyond upon the couple and Rick is left laying on the floor in a pool of his own blood on a pillow of his own intestines. During the fray some sarcophagi were knocked over and one of them opened, revealing The Terror Mask (voiced by John DiMaggio), an ancient and powerful living being who binds with his host, when permitted. The Terror Mask promises to save Rick's life and help him recover Jennifer in exchange for being its new host. He puts it on and it transforms the skinny and somewhat geeky metal-head into a hulking behemoth. From here Rick sets out on a blood soaked quest for his love.
The combat in this game is fairly run of the mill, though it is absolutely drenched in blood and dripping with gore. You have your grapple attacks, regular strikes, powerful strikes, and charged strikes. These can be upgraded through the game's system at any time. After you deal enough damage to your opponents they become outlined in red and you can now perform a Splatter Kill. These are elaborate, cinematic kills that bring about liberal doses of the red stuff. Of course The Terror Mask adds its own commentary to everything as you hack, slash, smash, and bash your way through a bevy of Lovecraftian monsters. These kills normally require you to press certain buttons or move the sticks in a certain direction when prompted to do so. These kills are fairly repetitive, but when you've had to slough your way through a particularly difficult group of higher level monsters getting to watch Rick eviscerate them is still quite satisfying. He can also utilize various weapons which include everything from blunt objects to blades, to chainsaws, to shotguns, to severed limbs. This game runs on blood. Aside from it spewing from every second of combat, the mask uses it to perform special attacks and enter Berserk Mode, when the mask unleashes its full power so Rick can devastate his foes. The gorier the kill, the more blood you receive as a reward. This means splatter kills are the best way to earn blood. He also draws it from his enemies to restore health by using his Splatter Siphon ability. Blood is also earned and used to upgrade your abilities. The menu to do so can be accessed at any time, making it convenient and easy to level up.
The game periodically switches to different camera angles for certain sequences. The most popular choice is a side-scrolling camera reminiscent of the original series. These sequences aren't too numerous, but they do crop up often enough to be polarizing. When these start the game goes to 2D movement to bring the full experience to the player. There is also a sequence where the camera switches around to look back at Rick as he automatically runs forward to try to dodge falling meteorites. I find these sequences to be somewhat annoying, however, they do capture the original feel of the genre: trial and error. You dodge obstacles and fight your way through scores of enemies that are exactly the same no matter how many times you do it. In this way if you die on your first attempt you know what to expect at that point next time.
The problem with dying in this game is that it takes a decent amount of time to reload after each death. And there are a lot of times, particularly in the odd camera sequences, when you feel as though you've succumbed to cheap deaths. These make the loading screens almost infuriating. Speaking of cheap, sometimes it is difficult to fight your way through the massive number of hostiles because they will circle up and strike at you while you're busy with another baddie. Often times it feels like a hit you threw at one should have landed, but their attack hits you instead and breaks your combo.
My biggest gripe is the game's use of timed sequences. These are cut extremely close. Even a best case scenario run would still leave you with few precious seconds to spare. These are the times when you find yourself failing over and over and over and feeling like you were cheated rather than you failed. The biggest problem, something you have to learn the hard way (if you're not reading this review first), is that splatter kills don't stop time. There is a particular timed sequence in which you cannot perform even one splatter kill because you will run out of time. This makes it rather frustrating because the splatter siphon needs blood to perform. This can be problematic when you're pitted against the faster foes who can get in cheap shots and you need to refill your health. The splatter siphon also stuns enemies when it's being executed and they have to take a second to recover. This added benefit can be easily exploited in large crowd situations.
In the story mode you can also collect torn pieces of Jen's pictures. Most of these are pin-up style photos of her in the buff. The trophy/achievement you earn for finding all the pieces of your first photo is "Happy Ending". I feel that says enough. During the first part of the game there are also phonograph recordings which constitute Dr. West's journal. These fill in the back story about the good doctor's decent into madness. It's a nice touch to entice players who are already enjoying the title to find more to enjoy.
This game also features Survival Arenas, the Splatterhouse spin on the popular Horde Modes found in other games. You have to smash your way through twenty waves of progressively harder monsters. There are multiple arenas, each with their own unique monsters and weapons. The subsequent survival arenas are more and more challenging. This makes for an extra bit of bang for your buck. However, the hitches and hiccups in the play controls can make these seem extremely unappealing if the player wasn't already enjoying the game.
My final verdict on this new take on Splatterhouse is that it is one you should consider buying. I don't recommend paying the regular $60 for it. It is certainly not worth $60. This is always the last question I ask myself about any game I liked playing: "It was good, but was it $60 good?" This time the answer is "No". This is a good one to pick out of a Kmart or Wally World bargain bin if you're into B-movies and gory action games, especially those with a soft spot for the works of H.P. Lovecraft. If neither of those things tickle your pickle then the short comings in the controls and repetitive nature of the gameplay will quickly wear on you and leave you wishing you had invested your hard earned ducats on something else.